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New Babylon
Placement History of New Babylon Pre-Foundation The Babylonian excursions of 86 and 89 B.E. to the Sabatth riverlands indicated that they were somewhat inhabited, albeit sparsely and often non-permanently. The greatest concentration of inhabitants was in the area around the delta of the Sabatth River (Marcel River following 243 B.E.) which was settled by several small, semi-permanent fishing communities that regularly migrated upriver during the summer months to put flocks to pasture. The lands around the delta were relatively saline and made for poor pasture-lands, but the cold winters in the Arcadian Ranges formed a migratory culture among the communities. Other than their frequent migratory behaviour, little is known about these communities, other than that they were mostly peaceful and regularly traded with one another. A third Babylonian expedition in the winter of 101 B.E., while out mapping the region, described an incident wherein two communities had asserted themselves over the same fertile land, and the dispute ended up escalating into violence. The cartographers described an armed brawl that occurred by the river bank during which several fatalities were noted. Following this report, another expedition was planned for 103 B.E. with the aim of pacifying the area and to establish a permanent trading post. However, during the years of 102-115 B.E., extreme weather spells hit the region with intense temperature swings and prolonged spells of either rainfall of drought that delayed any expedition to the winter of 119 B.E.. The fourth expedition was unsuccessful in its initial objectives; the settlements around the Sabatth Delta were long abandoned and evidence of catastrophic loss of life were uncovered in the form of mass graves that dotted the riverlands. Dontice Negrin, the head of the expedition, described the aftermath as follows: "the land was a vast, empty waste -- devoid of settlement, animal, and all things living and breathing". The expedition did manage, however, to follow the river upstream to discover Lake Sabatth in the Ranges just as the winter snows had finished thawing. The discovery of the lake, and the opportune timing of the thaw, allegedly uncovered the first known deposit of carbonum ore in the Arcadian Ranges. "The unnatural formation of the lake, the like of which none of us have ever seen, did expose some very unnatural mineral composites. It is as if they were heaved from below the mountains and deposited only in the immediate vicinity. ... This may affirm the speculation that the s were at one point actively volcanic" (Negrin, The Discoveries of the Fourth Expedition, 123 B.E.). The trading post was never built, and no further expeditions to the Sabatth Delta were subsequently undertaken as recovery efforts following the Crisis of 103 B.E. brought more attention towards restoring Babylonian lands rather than settling inhospitable ones. Foundation: 171 - 176 B.E. After the success of the Arcadian Revolt in 170 B.E., the Sabatth Delta was chosen as the location for the foundation of the new city. New Babylon was declared an independent and sovereign state on what is now known as Arcas Hill on the 66th of Spring 171 B.E.. The earliest consensus of New Babylon, conducted shortly after its foundation, was noted at 53,756 individuals. Early settlement was confined to the foot of Arcas Hill, on top of which the Mayoral Palace was built. Following the Crisis of 103 B.E., the Sabatth riverlands and delta had seen a marked rise in the availability of fresh water due to a permanent shift in the weather; soil fertility had also improved accordingly. As such, the initial economy of the city was predominantly focused on agriculture, forestry and fishing, providing a high degree of food security. Early Neo-Babylonian Age: 177 - 241 B.E. As the First Babylonian Civil War was escalating in Babylon City (176 - 187 B.E.), New Babylon was experiencing a period of economic and demographic growth that would last well into the Late Neo-Babylonian Age. With the rapid downfall of Babylon City came a second wave of immigrants to the Sabatth Delta in 177 B.E.. While the Arcadian Revolt mainly consisted of former non-citizens, the second wave was comprised of the educated class that was fleeing the violence. The initial response from New Babylon was ambivalent, as many Neo-Babylonians still harboured resentment against their former overlords, whom the government at the time deemed "apolitical when their interests were not being served". Despite this, however, the few that were granted asylum brought with them generations of expertise and knowledge that had made Babylon city the hegemonic power in the region over a century earlier. The First Diaspora, as this wave was named, established the first Grand Schools of industry, commerce and medicine which they opened to all Neo-Babylonians as a gesture of goodwill. These early schools transformed the Neo-Babylonian economy as more resources were directed towards financing local industry and trade in the area around the Great Basin. The first sea-worthy vessels were launched during this period and expeditions and diplomatic delegations were sent to major settlements, granting New Babylon formal relations, recognition and prestige. A second major wave of Babylonian refugees arrived in 180 B.E. and were assimilated rapidly. By 190 B.E. New Babylon had grown to over 200,000, with refugees and medical advances driving most of that growth. The area around Arcas Hill had become severely overcrowded - where the majority of the population lived since it's settlement. The Charter of 191 B.E. legalised the expansion of Neo-Babylonian borders to encompass an area from approximately 300 square kays to 1,400 square kays, and, crucially, allowed New Babylon to expand westwards beyond the banks of the Sabbath River and northwards to the foothills of the Arcadian Ranges while also granting it a further 13 kays of coastline on either side of the river mouth. This expansion not only granted New Babylon more buildable land, but also access to greater resources. The charter also prompted people to venture towards the mountains in search for minerals and timber and led to the opening of the first iron and copper mines in the Ranges in 193 B.E.. In 199 B.E. prospectors discovered the first known deposits of bronzium, although it took several years to discover a use for the metaloid, and more further to refine it sufficiently for industry. The 30th Anniversary of New Babylon in 201 B.E. was marked by an observation made by the 6th mayor of New Babylon, Barak Nargilli: "For the first time since we liberated ourselves from the yoke of Babylon City, there are more among us who have never known enslavement, or were too young to now rely on personal memory alone to remember the suffering and anguish that had befallen their parents." This period corresponded with a rise in tensions between the Neo-Babylonian and Babylonian demographics in the city. In 203 B.E., Representatives of Babylonian heritage staged a walk-out and several grand schools closed their doors, sinking New Babylon into a political crisis. Nargilli's hawkish stance towards Babylonians had created a deadlock in the Chamber of Representatives, and several lobby groups and unions demanding the nationalisation of high-value enterprises run by Babylonians rallied to the government's side. The social divisions between the higher class Babylonians and the lower class Neo-Babylonians reached a breaking point when, in an act of arson, several Neo-Babylonian youths lit the Grand School of the Mechanical Arts on fire and prevented the fire department from securing the building. A riot ensued later that evening, again driven by extreme Neo-Babylonian elements, and the fire started earlier that day had come to engulf a large portion of the Belrine quarter, a predominantly Neo-Babylonian neighbourhood. Between the 6th and 31st of Summer 203 B.E. looting, arson and violence between extremist gangs, the army and civilians brought New Babylon to a standstill, during which over 200 people were thought to have been killed and more than 1,200 were injured. Two Neo-Babylonian and one Babylonian Representatives were also injured while attempting to calm a violent protest, while a fourth (of Vintian descent) was killed during the break-in of her home. By the 33rd, tensions had started to cool after High Judge Samile rounded up the army's support, declared new elections and imposed martial law. The aftermath saw many of the most radical elements exiled to the uninhabited island of Wyetarent in the Great Basin and their status as Neo-Babylonian citizens revoked. Until the War of the Two Babylons, such a measure was never taken again, and it's use has been intensely debated. The economic damage was also substantial; neighbourhoods such as Belrine, Kumatong and Waterside, and both West and East Harbours were ravaged. The damage to the ports and several harboured ships, and the suspension of all port operations wreaked heavy diplomatic harm with many states, and led to the re-ratification of the Trader's Agreements seen as against New Babylon's interests. It would take over a decade for New Babylon to return to it's former state. The end of the Early Neo-Babylonian Age saw New Babylon rise to over 800,000 residents, while a further 200,000 had settled new towns up the Sabatth River and along the Basin Coast as far the mouth of the Melbinar River. New Babylon had expanded its territory once again in the Charter of 230 B.E. to 6,800 square kays and brought under its control the fertile valleys between the Sabatth and Melbinar Rivers and numerous passess into the Arcadian Ranges. In 239 B.E., as mining operations and associated industries became vital interests for the Neo-Babylonian state both economicaly and militarily, Mayor Marcel introduced sweeping laws that enshrined the expansion of Neo-Babylonian mining operations further into the Arcadian Ranges. This move was seen as hostile by Babylon City and other regional city states, but their technological latency and local squabbles meant that their opposition barely broke New Babylon's momentum. Defiantly, New Babylon secured it's hegemony over the region with the formalisation of the Arcadian Charter in 241 B.E., which put New Babylon as the major beneficiary of lowered trading tariffs with other signiatories in exchange for mining rights in the Arcadian Ranges - some scholars believe that this treatise was also drawn as a retaliation for New Babylon's earlier humiliation. The end of the Early Neo-Babylonian age heralded the start of a Neo-Babylonian Golden Age. High Neo-Babylonian Age: 242 - 323 B.E. Mayor Hamil Marcel's health deteriorated, and he died in late 243 B.E.. Posthumously, the Sabatth River and Lake Sabatth were renamed in his honour, and is regarded as one of the most important figures in Neo-Babylonian history. He is also known as being the first Mayor to "designate" a successor, taking advantage of a poorly worded clause in the Neo-Babylonian Constitution. Govan Simov was known to have been Marcel's protegée during his tenure as Mayor. This had come as a shock to both the populace and the Chamber of Representatives and drew a deeply hostile reaction from the High Court. However, Simov was a greatly respected Representative in and out of the Chambers and was known for being a strong character and a powerful orator. While the election went ahead without delay, it came to everyone's surprise that Simov won majority approval both in the Chambers and in the public plebiscite. With legal and democratic legitimacy, and the backing of a much loved Mayor, Mayor Simov ascended to Mayordom on the 1st of Spring 244 B.E. as, what scholars describe, the First Citizen. Govan Simov (244 - 260 B.E.) Simov's two 8-year tenures as mayor are considered by many as among finest. It was a period of great prosperity and technological marvel, especially as Simov himself was educated at the prestigious Grand School of the Mechanical Arts and a proponent of financing the schools with public, rather than private, money. In 250 B.E., Simov authorised the adoption of the first aircraft in the Neo-Babylonian military. While the crafts themselves were primitive and cumbersome and purely experimental, it was a monumental step towards the development of the more advanced and compact CC-Engines of the early 4th century B.E.. Simov was also involved in the construction of rail lines that would link the numerous townships that had sprung all across Neo-Babylonian lands (Periphery); prior to this, many towns relied on local water networks and man-made canals for transportation. This allowed for more settlements to crop up further afield, lessening the burden on buildable land in New Babylon proper, and increased the throughput of raw resources from the Arcadian Ranges. Efforts were also made in developing the public spaces of New Babylon itself, which during the previous years of intense and unscrupulous urban planning had seen abysmal conditions develop across the city. Several districts were renovated and built anew, including the Old City which had developed a reputation for rampant sickness and poverty. By the end of Simov's tenure in 260 B.E., the Old City had become reputed for it's clean streets and wide and open boulevards. Later Mayors would capitalise on these changes and would move much the crowded bureaucracy from the Palace to the Old City. Halys Imarell (260 - 268 B.E.) Mayor Imarell was also a designated successor in much the same way as Govan Simov was. Due to Simov's successes as Mayor, the Chamber of Representatives approved her ascension without opposition, and the public plebiscite also seemed to approve of her. Prior to her Mayorship in 260 B.E., Imarell was the minister for transportation and had been responsible for many of the key developments in linking New Babylon with the Periphery. Much of her attention during the earlier years of her tenure were indeed focused on the continued development of transport links. While ships were still the favoured means of transporting goods internationally, Imarell implemented her pre-260 B.E. plans to build the first interstate rail lines between New Babylon and the cities of Palario and Galatea up the Alabaster Channel to the west (a distance of 556 and 601 kays respectively) and Etherpoint on the Ether Peninsula (659 kays). In order to accommodate the prospected rail traffic, Imarell also initiated the renovation of Central Station. Neither of these projects would be completed by the end of Imarell's Mayorship (and would under Delmare's), but their effects were instrumental in making New Babylon internationally accessible. The strain of Mayorship took a heavy toll on Imarell by the end of her tenure in 268 B.E., and a miscarriage in 267 B.E. prompted her to not seek re-election. Ambrose Delmare (268 - 275 B.E.) Ambrose Delmare was elected as Mayor in 268 B.E., and unlike the last two Mayors was nominated after stiff competition rather than designated succession. Mayor Delmare's tenure was, however, relatively uneventful, and mostly focused towards consolidating the Neo-Babylonian lands and economy. Mayor Delmare's tenure coincided with a rise in the number of city states that had formalised their territory and diplomatic offices as the population of the Arcadian continent saw the sharpest increase. City states such as Sanc-Torre, Kirafold and Emporium established embassies in New Babylon's new Sabatth Harbour district, which was destined to became the hub for expatriates and rich merchants. Delmare died of heart failure before the end of his term in 275 B.E.. --- (275 - 291 B.E.) Ostian Intervention Hershe Coraline and the Coraline Crisis (291 - 293 B.E.) Hershe Coraline came from the family of a well established mining company in the Arcadian Ranges, and was one of the most influential magnates in carbonum and bronzium extraction. Even before his ascension to Mayorship, several members of the Coraline dynasty had already held high positions in Neo-Babylonian government, including those of minister of mining operations and minister of public services. With support from the inner circles of government and a slim plebiscite majority, Mayor Coraline took up residence in the Mayoral Palace in 291 B.E.. Mayor Coraline was naturally expected to support Arcadian mining operations, and indeed followed through with tax breaks for companies engaged in prospecting in 291 B.E.. Controversy, however, plagued Mayor Coraline's tenure as several Representatives began to decry the ease of which the Coraline's had managed to monopolise government functions, especially after the nomination of Corus Coraline, his son, as his designated successor. Protests were lodged by Representatives before the High Court to issue an order restraining the future nomination of relatives to positions of high public office, which was eventually rejected. A leak by an unnamed clerk at the High Court revealed that the judge who rejected the protest was bought by another Coraline, and led to outrage within the Chamber of Representatives. A war of words broke out on the Chamber floor, where it was revealed that many of the Representatives themselves had bought their way into office. Over the next year, stenographers were silenced and little way of information made it's way out of the Palace, with each Representative fearing public denunciation. In 293 B.E., a few days before Mayor Coraline was to publicly declare Corus as his successor, he was found dead in his residence. Corus Coraline (293 - 294 B.E.) Corus Coraline took up the Mayorship from his father, Hershe Coraline, in 293 B.E.. Outrage blew across the Chamber floor as it was revealed that the High Court ruled in favour of Corus Coraline on the grounds that designated successors had been chosen before, and that the public plebiscite had also voted in favour of Corus. Guin Bolsam, a member of another prominent mining family, and several allies called the election a sham and demanded a new plebiscite and the removal of the current High Judge. Mayor Coraline denied this request and accused Bolsam and his allies of being behind the murder of his father. Numerous accounts state that Bolsam was expecting this response and, having bought the Palace Guards and stewards, led a bloodless coup on the 16th of Spring 294 B.E.. Guin Bolsam and the Chamber Insurrection (294 B.E.) Effectively ending the Neo-Babylonian Golden Age Return of Corus Coraline (294 - 313 B.E.) Due to New Babylon's status at the head of the Arcadian League, and drawing upon it's success in both the Ostian Intervention and the 1st Babylonian War, Corus commissioned the construction of a new airborne fleet. Thanks to recent advancements in carbonum miniaturisation and engineering, larger ships could be constructed. With the expansion of the Navy and military employment however, bronzium extraction could not keep pace with construction nor serve as the monetary standard, effectively raising the price of bronzium and forcing New Babylon to debase it's coinage with inferior metals. The Bronzium trade became essential for New Babylon, and began to import vast quantities of the metaloid from outside Neo-Babylonian territory and League jurisdiction. The Bullion Crisis was further exacerbated by the rise in professional piracy in the Great Basin and Medina Shallows, with pirate havens such as Eist Point springing up and other states accommodating piracy such as Wyetarent. Plague kills Corus Argus Coraline (313 - 342 B.E.) Growing dependency on imported Bronzium led to a physical presence of New Babylon all over Arcadia, angering local city states which saw the action as a violation of the Traders Agreements and the tenets of the Arcadian League. Many saw that New Babylon was prepared to break its own commitments to serve itself and antagonised many others. With local deposits of Bronzium depleting, many Periphrians began to abandon the Ranges for the city. In existing mining towns, the local magnates often employed measures to encourage people to stay, and when these measures failed, harsher means we then enforced. Anger and resentment towards the elite who had thus far been unwilling to prevent exploitation and lowering living standards fanned discontent across the Periphery. One by one, towns and communities in the Ranges began to form people's councils (councils were usually run by the magnates who owned the towns themselves) and started to band together. When one such council presented their magnate their demands and were refused, the locals stormed the magnate's manor and exiled him and his family. When he returned with a small army of his own men and of several other local magnates, he was crushed by the townspeople when some of his own soldiers switched sides and murdered the magnate, his private retinue, and several other allies. Argus called upon the army to quell the unrest. Iara Rebellion Forced to make concessions despite winning over the rebelling army also forced Argus to soften New Babylons power abroad. Ultimately, after almost 2 years of renegotiation with fellow League members to soften the terms of the Arcadian Charter, Argus conceded. While New Babylon had been weakened by almost 20 years of successive disasters, New Babylon was still the hegemonic power of the continent. Argus implemented new economic reforms in order to stay any further loss of income due to the Arcadian Concession. The new reforms opened up trade between other cities and lowered tariffs. Late Neo-Babylonian Age: 324 - 355 B.E. Mayor Regent Elaria Coraline-Yarn (342 - 346 B.E.) Corus II Coraline (346 - 354 B.E.)